Grief Is for People

Grief Is for People (2024) is a memoir by writer Sloane Crosley that focuses on the theft of several items of jewelry from her Manhattan apartment and the death by suicide of her friend and one-time boss Russell Perreault in 2019. The events occur exactly one month apart, and throughout the memoir, Crosley weaves back and forth between the two happenings and their aftermath, processing their emotional impact. As she tries to recover the jewelry, she also attempts to process Russell’s death, moving nonlinearly through the five stages of grief.

Crosley is the author of three collections of personal essays and two novels. The collection Look Alive Out There was a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor in 2019. Crosley has also written the film adaptations for her novels (Cult Classic and The Clasp). Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Vanity Fair, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, The Atlantic, and The Guardian.

This guide refers to the 2024 hardcover edition published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death by suicide and mental illness.